Seven Arrested In FDL During Operation Cross Country

The Fond du Lac Police Department participated in the FBI’s anti-human trafficking enforcement effort, Operation Cross Country, last weekend. Assistant Police Chief Steve Klein says they arrested seven women ranging in age from 18 to 27 years old in Fond du Lac for prostitution. They also identified a 26-year-old woman as a victim of human trafficking. Klein says a number of the women they arrested were from outside the area. He says they had advertised their services on backpage.com. In the last two weeks the FBI arrested the CEO of that website on sex trafficking and pimping charges. Klein says since the FBI coordinated the effort with local law enforcement the Fond du Lac Police Department has a detective assigned to that task force. He says Detective Bill Ledger is the department’s in-house expert on human trafficking. Several of the women arrested in Fond du Lac have already made court appearances including two Milwaukee women.